I currently have a likely IR horse, who is pastured with a laminitis prone mare. Unfortunately they’re at my in-law’s house (only one is mine), so I can only do so much.
Anyway, what do you feed your air ferns? They have a run in, but could be stalled. Currently getting 1 pound of ration balancer, probably 10 pounds of hay, and free choice low quality pasture.
Thanks!
I recently took my way-too-easy-keeper off of grain completely as we don’t have a soy free option in Canada. She gets some plain beet pulp with a VM supplement, as well as extra magnesium and vitamin E. She also gets muzzled for turnout.
I’d remove the soy - sometimes it’s not as much about calories (and face it, 1300-ish from a balancer isn’t a whole lot), sometimes it’s soy that is just adding to issues with those guys
I’ve used several forage balancers and am currently using Vermont Blend Pro. No soy, no calories, loads of nutrition in all the right places. I use a small amount of hay pellets and a smattering of Triple Crown Sr (because my old guy eats that and it’s just easy).
The VB Pro is a smaller serving than the regular VB, and smells pretty sweet. It uses YeaSacc, and anise flavoring
Uckele has several forage balancers in pelleted form - Sporthorse Grass, U-Balance Foundation, EquiVM (I think that’s theirs).
and yes, muzzle while on grass.
Somehow I missed the soy issue when I researched what to feed my air ferns a few years ago. What is the best resource to read up on this?
Vermont Blend sounds great! Would you recommend feeding balancer with hay pellets or beet pulp? I’m not sure which is more palatable…
My mare is currently on Purina Enrich, because it’s what I can get here, but that’s higher NSC than I’d like. I don’t have the ingredients in front of me, but I’m pretty sure it also contains soy. So frustrating!
Yes, the Enrich is soy-based. I have a client who is feeding her PPID pony that currently (along with a few other less-than-ideal things) and I am trying to convince her to make a change. 
I also recommend switching to complete VM or Forage balancer. @JB mentioned the Uckele options - those are good products and relatively easy to find and purchase online. Steer clear of cheaper VM supplements. I have found that they either don’t truly meet the horse’s needs or just have wacky amounts of the necessary nutrients and don’t balance with the hay/pasture well. YMMV.
The 10 lbs. of hay is probably fine depending on the horse’s weight. Is it bagged/netted so he or she can nibble all day and night? That is preferable to consuming a bunch at once and then going without for hours.
Also “low quality” pasture can still have a high sugar content, particularly if it is stressed and trying to grow. If your horse (and the laminitic one, for that matter) must be pastured, a muzzle is the way to go. And it needs a pretty small hole. I have had farriers cut custom muzzle inserts out of plastic hoof pads with great success. Beats having to replace the muzzle constantly as they wear through the holes and eat everything in sight!
ETA: I realize now that OP asked what we feed our air ferns. I’ll spare you the details but mine basically eat the way I described above. Only difference is one can be pastured and the other is on a dry lot only in spring and fall. Also! Another note on the hay. 10 lbs is probably enough if the horse has the ability to graze pasture at will, but may not be enough if pasture becomes restricted. The horse should generally get 1.5% of it’s GOAL body weight per day in forage.
Thank you so much! That is all super helpful!
I do use hay bags, but am thinking double netting might be a good option. I’ll plan to try a good VM supplement with hay pellets and grazing muzzle.
Do you soak your hay? I’m pretty sure my in-laws won’t be willing to, so would need to find tested hay or use something like Safe Starch… 
I feed Vermont Blend, Omega-E (from the same manufacturer as Vermont Blend), loose salt, and soaked timothy/alfalfa cubes as a carrier. If you can’t soak cubes you can feed dry pellets instead. Make sure you introduce the new supplements slowly over the course of 7-14 days. Lots of horses reject trace mineral supplements if you give the full serving right off the bat.
I follow the formula presented here (from the Hoof Care and Rehabilitation Facebook group):
These are good reads for more in-depth info
https://www.hoofrehab.com/Diet.html
I’m not sure how picky your horse is, but my gelding eats his Vermont Blend (the regular kind so higher volume than the Pro) plus his Refresh (high volume), salt and MSM in just a wee bit of Triple Crown Senior. I was worried he wouldn’t eat it but so far is slurping it up!
I feed my easy keeper HorseTech’s condensed vit/min supplement for grass fed horses, that is soy-free and does NOT have added iron. I add it to one household measuring cup of Timothy pellets twice daily.
My IR horse is now also Cushings. He gets the same vit/min supplement as the easy keeper except it has an increased amount of amino acids. He also gets his mixed into one cup of Timothy pellets twice daily.
HorseTech will do custom mixes:)
My mare “ate around” or just plain refused to eat food that had the HighPoint Grass vit/min powder in it. I switched to the pellets, which are just a little more expensive, and she eats them right up. The base is alfalfa meal and wheat middlings, just so you know. 1/2 cup per day for a ~1000 pound horse in light work.
That’s kinda hard to point to. AFAIK there isn’t any solid research on it.
But soy definitely doesn’t agree with some horses. Some mares can’t get pregnant while on it. Some horses quickly develop fat pad while on it - I had one. While there’s no debating the phytoestrogens in it, it’s highly debatable what it actually does to the horses who don’t tolerate it.
I’ve seen enough IR horses who are just loads better off soy, and I know a lot who are quite happy on ration balancers, or Triple Crown Sr, or any number of low NSC feeds with soy.
that makes it one of the things I suggest removing, at least until the horse is stable and of any “flare”, in good shape, etc, and then see if they can tolerate it.
Beep is nice in that it doesn’t take a lot to make a larger soaked volume to hide more things in. Most horses at least like it, lots love it, some hate it.
Hay pellets are just not a lot of volume, even soaked, compared to the same weight of beep So, it’s just a game you have to figure out to see what works best. I’ve done both
With few exceptions, all ration balancers contain soy.
TC Balancer Gold and Tribute Wholesome Blends Balancer (the while Wholesome Blends line) are 100% soy free.
TC Sr and Perform Gold have hulls, but no meal.
TDI and McCauley’s both make a soy-free balancer as well.
to my knowledge, the WBB is the only soy-free balancer with the higher protein. The others are in the 10-13% range, which is fine in a lot of cases.
Thank you JB. I try to keep up on IR info. It’s certainly possible the ration balancer I’m using has soy. I’ll check tomorrow.
1lb of teff hay pellets split into two feedings as a carrier.
California Trace Plus for Vm/min
Hay in a small hole net free hanging so the horse can’t pin it to the wall for stripping it empty.
No soy or soy oil in any form <- this was critical for my hony, and I cut iron every place I could.
Okay, so current plan: Feed Vermont Blend Pro with hay pellets twice a day, (mostly) dry lot with hay for 12 hours and pastured with grazing muzzle for half of the day, and go from there. Also hoping to start riding her a few days a week again.
Thank you all so much for the help! Also, feel free to critique this plan.
it’s as good a place to start as any 
My haflinger is prone to chubbiness during the spring and winter months, even with seven hilly acres to roam. Once the warmer weather hits, it’s dirt, thistle, mustard grass, clay, and more dirt. He’s not IR, but I make choices with it in mind.
grass hay
Cavalor Fiber Force
Uckele Sporthorse Grass
Uckele biotin — though want to replace with a pellet
Redmond salt
Optizyme – will stop once the bag’s up
garlic — for ticks. Hasn’t worked.
KER NanoE
KER EO-3
I believe the new Purina Omega Match balancer is also soy free.
Yep, I forgot about that one! And the cost of that one is much more in line with regular balancers in some areas. In others, it’s into the $40s 
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